CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, 2018
Participatory design (PD) research has historically strongly focused on the reporting of design e... more Participatory design (PD) research has historically strongly focused on the reporting of design events (e.g. workshops and prototyping activities with participants), where issues such as ‘involving users’, including the users’ point of view, and participation as a matter of mutual learning have been in the foreground. The need to further problematise and critically examine participation is nonetheless apparent. This special issue aims to shed light on participation as it unfolds over time during, between and beyond participatory events such as these. Here, we build an overview of existing directions taken by researchers to address the unfolding of participation in IT design over time. We do this by examining existing PD literature and the four contributions to this special issue. We identify two common temporalities in PD, the future-oriented and the project-based, and propose five lenses that may aid researchers in exploring and understanding the temporal dimensions of participatio...
In this chapter, we discuss the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki an... more In this chapter, we discuss the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki and the role of current social media infrastructures and artefact ecologies in supporting them. We point out how social media and other digital technologies are important catalysers in the initial steps of both endeavours, providing seeds for documentation practices to emerge. However, as practices stabilize and more information is accumulated, challenges related to access, effective archiving, reach and reuse start to appear. The chapter introduces some implications for social media design and the structuring of participatory design processes linking these areas to the construction of knowledge commons.
INTERACT Series, no. 1, INTERACT Research Unit, University of Oulu, 2019
This e-zine documents the discus- sions and group work done at the ‘Infrastructuring in Participa... more This e-zine documents the discus- sions and group work done at the ‘Infrastructuring in Participatory Design’ workshop, a full-day event that took place at the Participatory Design Conference 2018 in Hasselt and Genk, Belgium1. The workshop invited the Participatory Design (PD) community to come together, with their cases or projects, questions and topics of interest in order to take stock of empirical insights and conceptual developments around the notions of infrastructure and infrastructuring, and their relevance to the revitalization of the political agenda of PD. Following a hands-on approach, participants - collectively and critically - mapped issues, disentangled assumptions, identified blind spots, and outlined new research opportunities charting the possibilities and limitations of an infrastructuring approach in Participatory Design at large.
Proceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial - Volume 2, 2018
In this hands-on workshop we invite the PD community to take stock of empirical insights and con... more In this hands-on workshop we invite the PD community to take stock of empirical insights and conceptual developments around the notions of infrastructure and infrastructuring. We propose that by leveraging the original relational nature of these concepts, we can revitalize the political soul of PD and better characterize the politics of participation in digitalization phenomena and processes ongoing in all walks of life. With a hands-on approach we will collectively and critically map, disentangle assumptions, identify blind spots and outline new research opportunities charting the possibilities and limitations of an infrastructuring approach in PD at large.
Participatory Design Theory Using Technology and Social Media to Foster Civic Engagement, 2018
This chapter discusses the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki and the... more This chapter discusses the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki and the role of current social media infrastructures and artefact ecologies in supporting them. We point out how social media and other digital technologies are important catalysers in the initial steps of both endeavours, providing seeds for documentation practices to emerge. However, as practices stabilize and more information is accumulated, challenges related to access, effective archiving, reach and reuse, as well as the current business logic of social media platforms, start to appear. The chapter concludes with some implications for social media design and the structuring of participatory design processes, stating that reliance on social media is not enough, and that participatory design, if attuned to the notion of the construction of knowledge commons, offers interesting approaches to address to support the documentation challenges of self-organised urban initiatives.
The thesis is a trans-disciplinary work on participatory e-planning. So far, participatory e-plan... more The thesis is a trans-disciplinary work on participatory e-planning. So far, participatory e-planning, as approached in the urban planning and e-planning fields, has only focused on conventional types of participation in urban planning, which are enhanced by the use of single pieces of software. This approach is not in tune with the realities of the emerging digital age and its emerging cultures of participation. These are cultures of information-centred and digitally mediated peer production and sharing that are supported by activities of tinkering with technology. I argue that in order to meet the realities of the digital age, participatory e-planning has to recognize the necessity of combining different types of participation. I particularly emphasize the importance of participation in the design of digital technology, which comprises different types of participation, such as staged participation and participation as design-in-use. By acknowledging participation in the design of ...
International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2012
ABSTRACT As planners and decision-makers experiment with information and communication technologi... more ABSTRACT As planners and decision-makers experiment with information and communication technologies (ICTs), it’s important to explore and analyze these attempts in different planning systems and contexts. The aim of the article is to compare the use of and aspirations attached to e-planning in Helsinki, Finland and Sydney, Australia. This comparison will highlight the interrelationship between planning context and its amenability to an e-planning approach and shows there are shared themes in both cases: firstly, the complexity involved in reconciling the aims of the e-planning experiments and their connection to the planning process itself (roles, objectives, implementation of tools and processes). Secondly, the way that e-planning opens up cracks in the façade of administration, and thirdly, the ways in which e-planning provides possibilities to reshape existing planning procedures. The authors argue that the different planning and governance contexts affect the adoption of e-planning and this adoption is necessarily a selective process.
Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference on - DIS '12, 2012
This paper addresses the move towards understanding an expanded domain of design for interactive ... more This paper addresses the move towards understanding an expanded domain of design for interactive systems. We take up Dourish's invitation to "designing politics", and examine, through the long-term study of the design of the Urban Mediator and its outcomes, how and to what extend the design of an interactive system can impact citizen participation in urban planning. The study shows that with the adoption of an expanded approach to the participatory design of technology, it is possible to impact the processes in place for citizen participation, albeit naturally in a modest way. Issues of different timeframes and rhythms in technological development and the practices and politics of citizen participation need to be addressed, as well as new strategic considerations, which go beyond the traditional role of design.
Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction - OZCHI '10, 2010
In this paper, I propose to address eParticipation as an Information Ecology (Nardi &... more In this paper, I propose to address eParticipation as an Information Ecology (Nardi & O'Day, 1999). By examining the micro-scale level of two cases of eParticipation as Information Ecologies, I identify microlevel technological building blocks and the artful integrations performed by actors whose role is often not enough emphasized. HCI research in the area of eParticipation should acknowledge the role
CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, 2018
Participatory design (PD) research has historically strongly focused on the reporting of design e... more Participatory design (PD) research has historically strongly focused on the reporting of design events (e.g. workshops and prototyping activities with participants), where issues such as ‘involving users’, including the users’ point of view, and participation as a matter of mutual learning have been in the foreground. The need to further problematise and critically examine participation is nonetheless apparent. This special issue aims to shed light on participation as it unfolds over time during, between and beyond participatory events such as these. Here, we build an overview of existing directions taken by researchers to address the unfolding of participation in IT design over time. We do this by examining existing PD literature and the four contributions to this special issue. We identify two common temporalities in PD, the future-oriented and the project-based, and propose five lenses that may aid researchers in exploring and understanding the temporal dimensions of participatio...
In this chapter, we discuss the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki an... more In this chapter, we discuss the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki and the role of current social media infrastructures and artefact ecologies in supporting them. We point out how social media and other digital technologies are important catalysers in the initial steps of both endeavours, providing seeds for documentation practices to emerge. However, as practices stabilize and more information is accumulated, challenges related to access, effective archiving, reach and reuse start to appear. The chapter introduces some implications for social media design and the structuring of participatory design processes linking these areas to the construction of knowledge commons.
INTERACT Series, no. 1, INTERACT Research Unit, University of Oulu, 2019
This e-zine documents the discus- sions and group work done at the ‘Infrastructuring in Participa... more This e-zine documents the discus- sions and group work done at the ‘Infrastructuring in Participatory Design’ workshop, a full-day event that took place at the Participatory Design Conference 2018 in Hasselt and Genk, Belgium1. The workshop invited the Participatory Design (PD) community to come together, with their cases or projects, questions and topics of interest in order to take stock of empirical insights and conceptual developments around the notions of infrastructure and infrastructuring, and their relevance to the revitalization of the political agenda of PD. Following a hands-on approach, participants - collectively and critically - mapped issues, disentangled assumptions, identified blind spots, and outlined new research opportunities charting the possibilities and limitations of an infrastructuring approach in Participatory Design at large.
Proceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Situated Actions, Workshops and Tutorial - Volume 2, 2018
In this hands-on workshop we invite the PD community to take stock of empirical insights and con... more In this hands-on workshop we invite the PD community to take stock of empirical insights and conceptual developments around the notions of infrastructure and infrastructuring. We propose that by leveraging the original relational nature of these concepts, we can revitalize the political soul of PD and better characterize the politics of participation in digitalization phenomena and processes ongoing in all walks of life. With a hands-on approach we will collectively and critically map, disentangle assumptions, identify blind spots and outline new research opportunities charting the possibilities and limitations of an infrastructuring approach in PD at large.
Participatory Design Theory Using Technology and Social Media to Foster Civic Engagement, 2018
This chapter discusses the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki and the... more This chapter discusses the documentation practices of two citizen initiatives in Helsinki and the role of current social media infrastructures and artefact ecologies in supporting them. We point out how social media and other digital technologies are important catalysers in the initial steps of both endeavours, providing seeds for documentation practices to emerge. However, as practices stabilize and more information is accumulated, challenges related to access, effective archiving, reach and reuse, as well as the current business logic of social media platforms, start to appear. The chapter concludes with some implications for social media design and the structuring of participatory design processes, stating that reliance on social media is not enough, and that participatory design, if attuned to the notion of the construction of knowledge commons, offers interesting approaches to address to support the documentation challenges of self-organised urban initiatives.
The thesis is a trans-disciplinary work on participatory e-planning. So far, participatory e-plan... more The thesis is a trans-disciplinary work on participatory e-planning. So far, participatory e-planning, as approached in the urban planning and e-planning fields, has only focused on conventional types of participation in urban planning, which are enhanced by the use of single pieces of software. This approach is not in tune with the realities of the emerging digital age and its emerging cultures of participation. These are cultures of information-centred and digitally mediated peer production and sharing that are supported by activities of tinkering with technology. I argue that in order to meet the realities of the digital age, participatory e-planning has to recognize the necessity of combining different types of participation. I particularly emphasize the importance of participation in the design of digital technology, which comprises different types of participation, such as staged participation and participation as design-in-use. By acknowledging participation in the design of ...
International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2012
ABSTRACT As planners and decision-makers experiment with information and communication technologi... more ABSTRACT As planners and decision-makers experiment with information and communication technologies (ICTs), it’s important to explore and analyze these attempts in different planning systems and contexts. The aim of the article is to compare the use of and aspirations attached to e-planning in Helsinki, Finland and Sydney, Australia. This comparison will highlight the interrelationship between planning context and its amenability to an e-planning approach and shows there are shared themes in both cases: firstly, the complexity involved in reconciling the aims of the e-planning experiments and their connection to the planning process itself (roles, objectives, implementation of tools and processes). Secondly, the way that e-planning opens up cracks in the façade of administration, and thirdly, the ways in which e-planning provides possibilities to reshape existing planning procedures. The authors argue that the different planning and governance contexts affect the adoption of e-planning and this adoption is necessarily a selective process.
Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference on - DIS '12, 2012
This paper addresses the move towards understanding an expanded domain of design for interactive ... more This paper addresses the move towards understanding an expanded domain of design for interactive systems. We take up Dourish's invitation to "designing politics", and examine, through the long-term study of the design of the Urban Mediator and its outcomes, how and to what extend the design of an interactive system can impact citizen participation in urban planning. The study shows that with the adoption of an expanded approach to the participatory design of technology, it is possible to impact the processes in place for citizen participation, albeit naturally in a modest way. Issues of different timeframes and rhythms in technological development and the practices and politics of citizen participation need to be addressed, as well as new strategic considerations, which go beyond the traditional role of design.
Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction - OZCHI '10, 2010
In this paper, I propose to address eParticipation as an Information Ecology (Nardi &... more In this paper, I propose to address eParticipation as an Information Ecology (Nardi & O'Day, 1999). By examining the micro-scale level of two cases of eParticipation as Information Ecologies, I identify microlevel technological building blocks and the artful integrations performed by actors whose role is often not enough emphasized. HCI research in the area of eParticipation should acknowledge the role
The aim of the Urban Information Toolkit is to provide inspiration or facilitate collaboration in... more The aim of the Urban Information Toolkit is to provide inspiration or facilitate collaboration inside heterogeneous groups of people that are interested in urban data and information. In this publication, we give an overview of our motivation to come up with such a toolkit, which is very much linked to our desire to bring forward the need for a citizen-centered approach to smart cities. We also explain the methods we have used to develop The toolkit, and report an example of a concrete application context where we used the toolkit as part of a workshop in Helsinki in autumn 2013. We conclude with proposals for ways the Urban Information Toolkit can be integrated to activities of companies and municipalities interested in the topic of urban information and collaboration with citizens.
This work has been supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation TEKES (through the Kaupunkitieto ja toiminnan hallinta project, KaToHan) and the Aalto Media Factory (through the Urban Media Prototyping project, UMPro).
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This work has been supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation TEKES (through the Kaupunkitieto ja toiminnan hallinta project, KaToHan) and the Aalto Media Factory (through the Urban Media Prototyping project, UMPro).